Don't make your audience work so hard
The fall colours are in full swing, and I've been making every effort to enjoy them!
With Thanksgiving long weekend upon us, that meant dragging the kids out for our annual salmon-run hike. As usual, they weren't particularly keen, but ended up enjoying themselves. (We all love the salmon, it's the walking they're not keen on!)
As we were finishing, we came across this sign, which had us all scratching our heads.
(Read the highlighted part.)
Read it once. Read it twice. Read it again.
Wait, WHAT?! 🤔
We had a good laugh and carried on, but the sign got me thinking about something I see often in presentations.
We make our audiences work far too hard to understand us.
And most of the time, we don't even realise we're doing it.
Just because it's clear to you...
When we prepare a presentation, we know exactly what we're trying to say.
We understand the background, the context, the terminology and the connections between our ideas.
But our audience doesn't necessarily have that same knowledge.
And yet, we sometimes expect them to keep up as we race through complex explanations, overcrowded slides and information that makes perfect sense to us.
The trouble is, while we're busy delivering our message, our audience is busy trying to decipher it.
And every moment they spend figuring out what we mean is a moment they're not fully engaging with what we're saying.
And when people are struggling to understand our message, they're far less likely to see its value, get behind our ideas, or take action.That's a pretty big price to pay for a lack of clarity.
Making it easy doesn't mean dumbing it down
I sometimes hear people worry that simplifying their message means oversimplifying their ideas.
But those are two very different things.
Clear presentations aren't necessarily simple presentations. You can communicate sophisticated, complex information in a way that's accessible and easy to follow.
In fact, I'd argue that the more complex your subject, the more important it is to make it easy for your audience.
Your job isn't to demonstrate how much you know.
It's to help your audience understand what they need to know.
And that takes thought, preparation and a willingness to see things from someone else's perspective.
Here's something you can try before your next presentation.
Choose the slide that contains your most important message.
Show it to someone who isn't familiar with your subject and ask:
"What do you think I'm trying to say here?"
Then listen.
Don't explain the slide. Don't jump in to clarify what you meant.
Just see what they take away.
If their interpretation doesn't match your intention, you've discovered something valuable before your audience has to struggle with it.
Use their response to identify what's missing, what's confusing, or what needs to be explained differently.
Make it easy for them
Here's what I keep coming back to.
Your audience shouldn't have to work hard to understand your message.
That work belongs to you.
Because when people can follow your thinking, they're in a much better position to consider your ideas, see their value and act on them.
And isn't that why we present in the first place?
The easier you make it for people to understand your message, the greater your opportunity to influence them.
Enjoyed this post?
Get more practical insights on presenting with clarity, confidence and impact, delivered straight to your inbox.
Comments